


at first glance

by nightswatch



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: First Impressions, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Trades
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-29 19:52:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10142711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: Jeff Troy gets traded to the Aces. He doesn't really expect Kent Parson to invite him to stay at his place for the time being.(Alternatively: A story about first impressions, lost games, and mysterious waffle makers.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt I got on tumblr: an anon asked for a fic about "first impressions".

Jeff doesn’t know Kent Parson. Not well, at least. Right now everyone, of course, would like to say that they know the guy who’s turning the Las Vegas Aces into a team that might make it all the way to the Cup someday. Maybe even someday soon. Jeff has played against him a couple of times, he knows what that guy can do, but he only ever talked to him once.

They met at a bar after a game in Seattle because one of Jeff’s teammates used to play with Kent way back in the day. At first glance, Kent Parson is a pretty boy who just can’t wipe that fucking smirk of his face. If Jeff had only _seen_ him, he would have probably gone home thinking Kent Parson was an arrogant douchebag. But then Kent ended up sitting next to him and the first thing he said was, “Troy, right? Dude, that pass in the second was awesome.”

Jeff talked to him for about five minutes before someone else wanted some NHL superstar time, but still, when Jeff went home, he thought Kent Parson was a pretty decent dude behind all the smirking and shit-talking and his backwards Aces cap. Kent Parson is a guy who knows how good he is, but he clearly hasn’t forgotten that he isn’t the only player on his team.

But as someone who’s been around loads of different people his entire life, Jeff knows that first impressions only go so far. So when he is traded to the Aces halfway through he his third season with the Schooners, Jeff isn’t a hundred percent sure what to expect. It’s Kent’s first year as the Aces’ captain and the Aces are barreling from one winning streak into the next, breaking franchise records and leaving their entire division in the dust.

And that’s where Jeff is headed.

When he gets the call, two days before the trade deadline, Jeff is sort of surprised by how calm he is. It’s a business, Jeff knows that. It’s what happens. He was just hoping that it wouldn’t happen to him. Still, it could be so much worse. He doesn’t have a family, no kids, no pets, and he’s sharing a condo with one of his teammates who’ll find another roommate in no time.

There’ve been rumors floating around that the Aces were talking to the Schooners about forwards, because three of their own guys are injured and they’ve been struggling because of it, but Jeff was trying not to listen to any of that. Then he kept telling himself that they wouldn’t want _him,_ that he’d get to stay in Seattle. Well. Turns out the Aces did want him.

He’ll be leaving in the morning.

He hangs up the phone and starts packing.

Two hours later, Jeff is fucking exhausted. People keep calling him. His phone keeps chiming with text alerts. When it starts ringing again after about half an hour of silence Jeff nearly doesn’t answer it. In the end, he’s glad that he does, because it’s Kent Parson who’s calling him.

“Troy, hey,” Kent says. “I just heard. Welcome to the team, man. You’re getting in at around ten tomorrow, right?”

Yeah, so, turns out that Kent Parson is picking him up at the airport tomorrow.

“And they’ll find you a hotel to stay at, but you can definitely crash at my place,” Kent says. “Unless you’re allergic to cats. Are you?”

“No, I’m–”

“Cool, okay. So, whatever you wanna do is fine with me, but it might make things easier for you, ya know? I can give you a ride to practice and stuff. Show you around a bit. What do you think?”

At this point, Jeff isn’t really thinking about much at all anymore. There’s just too much going on at this point. Does he want to go to Vegas and stay at Kent Parson’s house? Well, Jeff has been playing in the NHL for nearly three years, he knows a thing or two about strange cities and hotel rooms, but yeah, okay, maybe he’d feel a little better if he wasn’t completely on his own. So he asks, “Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yeah, I have a pretty decent guest room, you’ll see,” Kent says and then launches into a story about the two rookies who stayed with him at the beginning of the season. “…I figured I should let them crash at my place because that’s what a captain does, right?”

“Right,” Jeff says. He’s not a rookie, but he’s inexplicably glad that Kent has decided to treat him like one.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow,” Kent says. “And call me if anything comes up, yeah?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jeff says. “Thanks.”

Kent Parson, Jeff learns when he gets to Vegas, is a guy who really, really cares about his team. Kent Parson is a guy who also really, really cares about his cat. Jeff has no idea how Kent does it, but about an hour after he arrived, Jeff already feels so comfortable that he’s sure he’ll never want to leave even though he now lives in the fucking _desert_.

“You get used to it,” Kent says. “I mean…” He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. “I didn’t think I’d end up here either.” Right, because he was supposed to go second. Jeff remembers. He’s pretty sure everyone does. “And when I first got here, I thought I’d hate it. But, you know, this is a great team, honestly, these guys are the best. Pretty sure that Bennie was saying he’d bring you cookies, but I’d only eat them if his girlfriend made them if I were you.”

Seriously, Jeff wasn’t kidding when he said that Kent Parson really cares about his team.

The Las Vegas Aces, Jeff soon finds out, are not only a team but also a family. It’s not that the Schooners had issues with bonding, but in Vegas he notices instantly that these guys are all the best of friends. A few seconds after he arrives, Kent leading the way into the locker room, Jeff is surrounded by guys who were apparently just waiting for him to show up. He spends about ten minutes answering questions before Kent shoos them all away to get ready for practice.

Kent is making this easy for him. He’s been shepherding Jeff around town and around the rink ever since he arrived, has made sure that Jeff won’t even get a chance to feel lost, has done everything he can to make him feel welcome. Kent is doing a lot more than he has to do, Jeff knows that and he shouldn’t be surprised, because most of the time there really is a whole person you can see nothing of behind a fleeting first impression. He knew Kent’s a decent dude who wants to do well for his team, but it’s not just the game that Kent cares about.

Jeff ends up on the second line, filling in for one of the guys who’s out injured, but the coaches switch him to Kent’s line at practice after his first two games. Jeff is probably the one who’s most surprised when it actually works for them; at least as well as it can work with two guys who’ve never played together before. He’s still on Kent’s line for the game the next day. And he’s still on Kent’s line three games later.

People ask him how he likes it in Vegas. People ask him what it’s like to play with Kent Parson. Jeff says it’s an amazing opportunity, he says that his new teammates are great, and it’s true, but, in all honesty, none of it feels real.

It’s after his eighth game with the Aces – they return from a road trip and lose their first game back home against the Falconers, 5-2 – that Jeff finds out that Kent Parson, their leader, always smirking, always charming, has bad days, too.

Kent is quiet on the drive home. It’s not that they’ve lost their chance of making it to the playoffs, far from it, but three more points couldn’t have hurt. Jeff doesn’t say anything like, “Don’t worry, we’ll win the next one.” He’s doesn’t know why he’s so sure that it wouldn’t mean a thing to Kent; it’s just a feeling. So Jeff doesn’t try to fill the silence and immediately heads to bed after they get back to Kent’s. Kent mumbles a quiet _good night_ to Jeff and then shuffles into the living room.

Jeff doesn’t sleep well. At 2 AM, he eventually crawls out of bed to get himself a glass of water. The lights in the living room are on – Kent is curled up on the couch, Kit next to him, both of them sleeping soundly. Jeff turns off the lights on his way back to his room.

He gets up early the next morning and makes waffles. He feels like Kent could use a little breakfast surprise after last night.

Kent frowns at him when he shuffles into the kitchen. “Waffles?”

“Yeah,” Jeff says.

Kent squints at the waffles. “Did you make those?”

“Uh…” Jeff thought that was pretty obvious with how he’s standing here with the batter and the waffle maker. “Yes.”

“How?”

“With… your waffle maker?”

“I have a waffle maker?”

“Are you for real?” Jeff says. It’s slowly but surely starting to dawn on him that, occasionally, Kent Parson is a complete mess.

Kent shrugs and bites into a waffle. “Dude.”

“What?”

“Never leave,” Kent says and takes another bite.

Jeff laughs. Yeah, right. Like he’s going to live with Kent Parson. Kent probably wasn’t even serious. Although… Kent has a nice place. And Jeff kind of really likes Kit. She slept on his chest when he took a nap before his first game with the Aces and that totally cemented their friendship.

“Okay, but seriously,” Kent goes on. “Where did you find this thing?”

“Up there, next to the panini press.”

“I have a panini press?”

“Unbelievable,” Jeff says.

Kent only shrugs and finishes his plain waffle. He falls silent, watches Jeff for a minute or two, then he goes and refills Kit’s food. Eventually he sidles back over to Jeff and says, “You turned off the lights.”

“I did.”

Kent only nods.

“Wasn’t the easiest game last night,” Jeff says, because he has a feeling that it’s still bugging Kent.

“We should have won that fucking game.”

“Why, because it was the Falcs? They’re getting a lot better, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Kent says gruffly. He knows a thing or two about the reputation of expansion teams, they’re both very well aware of that. “The guys have been working so hard all season, I’d hate to ruin it for them.”

“It’s not like you’d be solely responsible,” Jeff says. “Anyway, we’re gonna make it.”

Kent’s lips twitch back into his regular smirk. “Well, it’s good to have you on board, Swoops.”

“That Swoops thing won’t die, will it?”

“Nope,” Kent says.

Jeff sighs. Whatever. He wants to stay here and if that means that he’ll also have to put up with the guys calling him _Swoops_ , so be it. He should have talked a little less about the Clippers.

Jeff looks over at Kent. He’s not a big guy; Jeff has a couple of inches on him. Kent’s smirk is gone again and something sad has snuck into his expression. It makes him look even smaller. “Hey,” Jeff says and reaches out without even thinking about it.

He was always the guy who hugged everyone when he was still with the Schooners. Once their PR team even put together a photo series of Jeff hugging the other guys after games they’d won. For a second there, he forgets that he’s in Vegas now and that he isn’t that guy who constantly hugs everyone anymore.

Kent only stares for a moment, then he steps closer, tentatively, like he’s not sure if he’s really allowed to. Jeff pulls him into a hug then, wraps his arms around him, and lets Kent hold on.

They barely know each other – not yet – but there are a few things that Jeff does know about Kent.

Kent Parson is a guy who knows how good he is. He’s a guy who knows that he wouldn’t be where he is right now without his team. He’s a guy who’s charming off the ice and relentless on it, he’s a guy who cares too much.

And Kent Parson is a lot of things you don’t see at first glance, and he’s a lot of things you don’t see until you’re hugging him in his kitchen the morning after a terrible game.

Kent Parson is, just like everyone else, a guy who sometimes just really needs a hug.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated :)
> 
> I'm @zimmermaenner on tumblr if you wanna drop by.


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